The Election Commission has stated that the District Election Office, which is facing a huge pressure to register names in the voter list, will work in two shifts for 12 hours a day.
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As the Election Commission's extended deadline of November 30 for adding names to the voter list approaches, the pressure to register has increased. Due to the overwhelming pressure, it is even difficult to get a 'slot' (time) to take a photo for registration.
After filling in personal details on the commission's website, there has been more trouble in choosing a contact place to take a photo. Those who want to go to the District Election Office, Kathmandu, to take a photo are facing the most such problems. Yubaraj Giri of Sinamangal, who was met at the Kathmandu Election Office, said that he could not find the time to take a photo. Those who want to register their names are forced to fill in the cyber spaces around the election office after repeated attempts. Ankita Poudel of Baneshwor mentioned that she tried to fill the online form through cyber spaces after sometimes she was told that something was wrong when she filled it, sometimes there was no quota.
The government led by Sushila Karki, formed after the Gen-G protests on 23 and 24 Bhadra, had amended the Voter Registration Act and extended the time for name registration. Before the amendment, there was a provision that names could not be registered after the election date was announced. The government has made special arrangements for registering names in the voter registration list by amending the law. After the amendment of the Act through an ordinance on Asoj 9, the Election Commission started compiling voter rolls across the country from Asoj 12.
According to the Commission, 185,913 new voters have been added as of Kartik 24. After the amendment to the law, the number of people coming to register their names has increased by 3/4 times on average daily compared to the initial days. Commission spokesperson Narayan Prasad Bhattarai said that while 5-6 thousand new voters were added daily at first, that number has now increased to 20-22 thousand daily. He mentioned that the pressure of people registering their names has increased as the deadline approaches.
According to the Commission's data, 22,291 people across the country have had their photos taken for voter ID cards on Kartik 24. The day before that, 16,937 people had their photos taken. Until a week ago, that number was limited to 5 to 6 thousand. Bhattarai said that it has gradually increased to 10,000 to 20,000 daily. ‘Some problems have been seen due to the sudden increase in pressure,’ he said, ‘the commission has been solving it.’ He said that from adding quotas to places where pressure was seen, equipment and manpower have also been added.
The highest pressure of new voters has been seen in Kathmandu. The number of people taking photos here daily is around 2,000. Office Chief Thakur Bhattarai says that work has been done until late at night due to the increase in pressure. 1,920 people took photos on Monday and 1,610 people took photos on Sunday. He mentioned that while 700 to 1,000 people used to come to take photos daily until a week ago, that number has now doubled. He said that the work that started with three computers last month is now being done with 8 computers and the same proportion of staff. The most complaints about not getting online ‘appointments’ are about this office. The office head Bhattarai says that he is adding quotas daily.
Due to the increased pressure, problems are seen in filling out the online form when the server is down, so he said that he has to try repeatedly. The commission has stated that the district election offices, which are under heavy pressure to register names in the voter list, will work 12 hours a day in two shifts.
On Tuesday, 23,000 new voters were added across the country. The commission issued a press release on Tuesday and said that arrangements have been made for biometric collection and photographing for the voter list in two shifts of 6 hours each in districts where more than 800 names are being registered daily. The pressure of voters has been seen more in three districts within the Kathmandu Valley. The commission has stated that 14 additional registration employees have been deployed from the National Identity Card and Registration Department in these places. The commission has written to the Chief District Officer in other districts to deploy additional manpower based on the pressure of service recipients.
